Patient May Have Gotten Aids From Wife`s Saliva

March 8, 1985|United Press International.

SAN BRUNO, CALIF. — A man whose wife died from AIDS after receiving a contaminated blood transfusion shows ``classic symptoms`` of the deadly syndrome and may have contracted the virus from his wife`s saliva, his doctor said Thursday.

Donald Bauer, 72, a retired engineer who has suffered from numerous ailments during recent months, carries antibodies to the suspected AIDS virus, tests conducted in a Los Angeles laboratory show.

If Bauer is suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, he would be the first known patient to have contracted the virus through saliva, said researchers at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

``He is definitely immune suppressed with a (blood) profile that is classic for people with AIDS,`` said Dr. Robert Illa, who has treated several AIDS patients. ``Mr. Bauer is very clear-cut in terms of these classic symptoms of AIDS.``

Bauer`s wife, Mary Agnes, 70, died last September after contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion during heart bypass surgery in 1979.

The doctor said Bauer is losing weight rapidly and plagued with a persistent fever -- both common symptoms of AIDS -- but has not been struck with certain infections associated with the virus.

Illa said health problems forced the couple to cease sexual relations more than 30 years ago, leading him to believe the virus may have been passed through the woman`s saliva.